For a guy who doesn’t believe in religion, Bill Maher certainly has a faithful flock, and on Sunday at the Grove of Anaheim they turned out to laugh and cheer as the comedian riffed on all his favorite topics: politics and pot, Republicans and racism, health care and horny hypocrites.

Walking on stage in black jeans and a blue T-shirt, Maher got his first standing ovation simply for being there.

“Boy, I thought ovations like that went out with white presidents,” he quipped.

It was a diverse crowd — young, old and multi-hued — and, we feel safe in saying, one that probably wouldn’t turn up at a Larry the Cable Guy show. Because regardless of where your house stands, Maher’s fans are blue-staters: progressives, independents, Democrats.

Which makes it an audience perfect for all manner of current-events comedy. And in a show that lasted nearly two hours, Maher touched all of his base’s bases.

On Real Time, his HBO series, Maher takes a good number of shots at President Barack Obama, even after eight years bemoaning the existence of President George W. Bush. And live, he takes his shots, too, though like the girl who puts down the guy she really crushes on, it’s pretty obvious Maher’s still digging Obama despite any disappointments.

“You can like him or not,” he said of Obama early in the show, “but it’s been a long time since the coolest guy in the country also was the president.”

People who like Obama are in a better mood now, Maher said, partly because every time they turn on their TV, there’s their president.

“He’s on television a lot. I mean, I like my bong, but I take it out of my mouth every once in a while. For eight years it was like we were stuck on a rerun of Hee Haw. No wonder we were in a bad mood, the president was like the cowboy from Toy Story.”

A few minutes later, he returned to that theme:

“I liked what Obama said recently: ‘We can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the necessary.’ Which is actually a quote from Voltaire. A president who quotes Voltaire? I felt like a hockey mom at the state fair when the fireworks go off and Jesus appears in the cotton candy. Bush thought Voltaire was a character in Harry Potter. ”

As fans all know, Maher long has advocated legalizing pot — and reigning in the big pharmaceutical companies and their endlessly advertised new drugs.

“Here’s the deal,” he said at one point. “Keith Richards, still alive. Michael Jackson, dead.”

The death of Michael Jackson, and his memorial service, served as a segue into another Maher favorite: religion.

“I remember what Stevie Wonder said (in the memorial): ‘We all needed Michael, but God needed him more.’

Religion then took over the show for half an hour or so, with riffs on the Pope and his Facebook page (“… and the creepy thing is, under relationships it says, ‘It’s complicated'”) to stem cell research and his rebuttal to the anti-abortion argument that the cells are “babies” (“after they’re donated, before the Octomom calls up to get some, they’re frozen … you can’t do that to a baby”).

Other bits of the show that got big responses from the crowd included:

• His views that many Obama foes are acting out of thinly veiled racism, as in their objections to Obama’s speech to school kids last week: “They run around like he’s trying lure them into a van, get them to trade apple pie for chicken and waffles, tell them to go home and slit their parents throats, and then report to the gay bar for further instructions.”‘

• On the fact that comedians would like Obama to “black it up” even more: ” I think the president has paved the way for the first really black president: President 50 Cent. He’s already been shot nine times. He comes pre-assassinated.”

• On Arizona State University not giving Obama an honorary doctorate when he spoke at commencement because “his body of work is yet to come”: “Right. He’s the first black president, let’s wait and see if he makes something of himself. And the previous year they gave one to Tommy Lasorda!?”

• On the angry crowds at town-hall meetings that oppose Obama’s health care reform proposal: “Trying to explain health care to these morons is like trying to explain to your dog why he’s going to the vet. Just jingle the keys, get ’em in the car and drive. In five years they’ll be shouting: ‘Keep your hands off my Nazi health care!”

Peter Larsen has been the Pop Culture Reporter for the Orange County Register since 2004, finally achieving the neat trick of getting paid to report and write about the stuff he's obsessed about pretty much all his life. He regularly covers the Oscars and the Emmys, goes to Comic-Con and Coachella, reviews pop music, and conducts interviews with authors and actors, musicians and directors, a little of this and a whole lot of that. He grew up, in order, in California, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. with degrees in English and Communications. Earned a master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Earned his first newspaper paycheck at the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, fled the Midwest for Los Angeles Daily News and finally ended up at the Orange County Register. He's taught one or two classes a semester in the journalism and mass communications department at Cal State Long Beach since 2006. Somehow managed to get a lovely lady to marry him, and with her have two daughters. And a dog named Buddy. Never forget the dog.

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